THIS WEEKEND
DreamWorks brought honor and courage to the box office with its ancient
Roman action film Gladiator which
collected grosses maximus from moviegoers eager to give the summer
movie season an early start. The weekend's other new release I
Dreamed of Africa suffered a drowsy ninth
place finish while holdovers experienced mostly moderate declines in a
marketplace dominated by one lone warrior.

Conquering the box office in a one-sided
battle, Ridley Scott's epic adventure Gladiator
triumphed with a muscular $34.8M opening, according to final
studio figures, surging over $2M higher than originally estimated. Starring
Oscar-nominated actor Russell Crowe, the Roman Empire saga launched ultrawide
in MMCMXXXVIII coliseums and averaged a mighty $11,851 per theater. Carrying
a hefty production budget of $103M, Gladiator
was co-financed by DreamWorks and Universal with the former
handling the domestic release. The story focuses on the doublecrossed army
general Maximus who returns to Rome as a warrior seeking revenge on the
Emperor who killed his wife and son. Critics were mostly supportive of
the latest feature from the director of Alien
and Blade Runner.

Gladiator inched
ahead of Scream 3's $34.7M premiere
to become the biggest opening of 2000 A.D. and became the best debut in
the young life of DreamWorks beating last summer's The
Haunting which opened with $33.4M. Given the fact that Gladiator
is rated R and runs longer than two and a half hours, its bow
is quite impressive as the second-century epic absorbed more ticket sales
than the next seven films combined. Studio distribution head Jim Tharp
initially went with a more conservative $32.7M weekend estimate anticipating
a big hit on Sunday due to the NBA playoffs but the dent was much less
than expected. Moviegoers hungry for the new wave of big-budget summer
blockbusters lined up for Gladiator which
jumpstarted the year's busiest season by beating the other event pics to
the marketplace.

Gladiator also
marched into battle in Australia over the weekend and generated explosive
results. With homegrown star Russell Crowe leading the charge, Universal
had no worries opening Down Under and reported that the Thursday-to-Sunday
frame hit $3.5M (in US currency) making it the fourth largest opening in
Australian box office history after The Phantom
Menace, Independence Day,
and Men in Black. Gladiator
invades the United Kingdom next weekend and advances across
much of continental Europe later in May.

After two weeks atop the box office waters,
the submarine actioner U-571 submerged
36% to $7.8M settling for second place. Universal's World War II-set picture
has experienced average declines and has captured $49.6M in 17 days. Look
for U-571 to finish its domestic voyage
in the vicinity of $70M.

Falling 37% in its sophomore effort, The
Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas placed third with $6.6M giving
the kidpic $18.6M in ten days. Universal's $58M attempt at continuing a
franchise will need to perform much better on video in order to break even.
Posting sluggish midweek grosses, The Flintstones
prequel seems set to conclude with roughly $35M.

The time-shifting thriller Frequency
enjoyed the best hold of any picture in the top ten dipping just 28% to
$6.5M. After ten days, the $22M New Line release has tuned into $17.9M
and could find its way to $35-40M.

Fox's teen mother story Where
the Heart Is placed fifth with $5.1M in its second weekend slipping
a moderate 38% in the process. With $15.7M in the womb, the Natalie Portman
starrer should eventually deliver $25-30M.

Love and Basketball
scored $3.1M, off 39%, and brought its take to $19.6M in 17 days. Edward
Norton's directorial debut Keeping the Faith
took in $2.8M for seventh place and raised its sum to $29.5M. Military
thriller Rules of Engagement tumbled
47% to a weekend gross of $2.4M giving Paramount's two-time chart leader
$54.1M in the bank.

Absent from theaters since winning an Oscar
for 1997's crime thriller L.A. Confidential,
Kim Basinger made a quiet return with the wildlife drama I
Dreamed of Africa which was trampled in its debut with only
$2.4M. Sony opened the $34M film wide in 2,112 locations but averaged a
dismal $1,142 per site. I Dreamed of Africa
delivered one of the worst debuts ever for a movie launching in over 2,000
theaters.

Rounding out the top ten was Sandra Bullock's
latest entry, the romantic comedy 28 Days,
which fell 40% to $2.35M and has reached $32M.

After seven weeks of top ten bliss, Erin
Brockovich and Final Destination dropped
off the list. Julia Roberts' spring blockbuster grossed $2.2M lifting its
cume to $116M. The $52M Universal/Sony co-production should eventually
reach about $120M which would make it the fourth biggest domestic hit for
the popular actress. Overseas, Erin Brockovich
has taken in more than $70M already with many major markets still to come.

New Line's horror pic Final
Destination has been the surprise sleeper of the spring season
posting remarkably low declines every week of its release. The teen suspense
hit scared up $1.6M boosting its total to $48.2M. Final
Destination could wind up with a domestic take of $50-55M. New
Line has already discussed developing a sequel to the profitable title.

Compared to projections, Gladiator
opened right on target with my $35M forecast while I
Dreamed of Africa failed to reach my $5M prediction.

Take this week's NEW
Reader Survey on Battlefield
Earth star John Travolta. In last week's
survey, readers were asked whether box office performance affects their
overall desire to see a movie. Of 1,411 responses, 11% said Definitely,
16% voted Very Much, 47% stated Somewhat, and 26% said Not At All.

Be sure to read the
Weekly Rewind report which looks at the biggest
debuts in May during the last ten years. For a review of Gladiator
visit The
Chief Report.

The top ten films over
the weekend grossed $74M which was down 3% from last year when The
Mummy stormed into the number one spot
with $43.4M, but up 10% from 1998 when Deep
Impact debuted on top with a massive $41.2M.

Be sure to check back
on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next
weekend when Battlefield Earth
tries to steal Gladiator's
crown.

This column is updated three times each week
: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary),
Sunday (post-weekend analysis with
estimates), and Monday night (actuals).
Source : EDI, Exhibitor Relations. Opinions expressed in this column are
those solely of the author.